GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
It’s always fun to play the college football scoreboard game, particularly early in the season.
LSU coach Brian Kelly dabbled in it a bit at his weekly press conference Monday when asked about the bad things his team did but still won, 36-33, at South Carolina on Saturday.
“We beat South Carolina on the road in a sold-out stadium in the SEC against a team that beat the pants off of Kentucky, who played Georgia right to the end,” Kelly began with a slight edge in his voice.
South Carolina went into the LSU game at 2-0 on the season following a 31-6 win at Kentucky, which had a chance to beat No. 1 Georgia Saturday in Lexington in the final moments before losing 13-12 as a 21-point underdog.
“So, if we want to do that game,” Kelly mused, “I guess we’re going to beat Georgia by a lot. If that’s how you guys want to play this thing.”
LSU is not scheduled to play Georgia this regular season, though it could meet in either the SEC championship game in December or in the new 12-team College Football Playoff, or both. The No. 16 Tigers (2-1) host UCLA (1-1) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on ABC.
“The reality of it is it’s hard to win on the road,” Kelly said of a game in which he trailed 17-0 in the second quarter. “And given the fact that we made a lot of mistakes, we still found a way to win that football game. That’s incredible resolve and resilience amidst your group.”
It could have been a much easier win for the Tigers without defensive goofs that allowed 66- and 75-yard touchdown runs up the middle and the inability to score touchdowns after a 1st-and-Goal at the USC 2 in the third quarter and a first down at the USC 12 in the fourth. LSU gained one yard on four downs on the first red zone failure, and quarterback Garrett Nussmeier threw an interception on the second one.
“You just score those two touchdowns, that’s 50 points,” Kelly said. “So, we’re not that far off. And if we make the two plays that we should make if we’re fundamentally sound on the two run plays, we’re going to give up 250 yards of total offense (instead of 398).”
LSU also failed to score a touchdown against USC in the opener after reaching a 1st-and-Goal at the 8-yard line and failing on fourth down from the 3.
“We’ve left three TDs on the board,” Kelly said. “We have to clearly look at that scheme. We have to look at what we’re doing in that area. That’s on coaching.”
There will be a few personnel changes Saturday possibly on both sides of the ball.
“I’m not saying we’re making wholesale changes,” Kelly said. “But they (his assistants) get a chance to evaluate the personnel. The big takeaway here is when you’re making mistakes, are you putting your guys in the right position? Do you have the right guys there? And are you preparing them for those scenarios? Do we need to do things differently, relative to particular schemes?”
Kelly reported no significant injuries from the game.
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